David Otey, C.S.C.S.

But after awhile, they can get boring. And while they can definitely push you to gains, those mainstay moves cant do everything. Thats why many add home gear, things like adjustable dumbbells, kettlebells, and parallettes. But you actually dont need all that gear to get a good home session.

You can actually get a vicious home workout with a piece of gear that may be lying around in your gym bag, an underrated version of the resistance band, the miniband. Yes, this tiny, stretchy band can give you a vicious workout, and its a lifesaver if youre stuck at home and youve exhausted basic bodyweight exercises and their variations. Its the perfect home workout companion, and it wont exactly break your wallet either.

<h1> Why and How Resistance Bands Work </h1>

To be clear, this miniband workout wont get you Captain America jacked. What it will do, however, is challenge stabilizing muscles you forgot you had while still pushing you through classic size- and strength-building motions.

Workouts like this supplement the training you do in the gym, and if youre stuck without gym access, theyre a perfect way to mix your training up for a few days, or even weeks. Theyll help you when you do get back in the gym, too, strengthening smaller muscle groups to fuel you to bigger gains when you get back to hitting the weights.

Essentially, they make you a more well-rounded gym-goer. Think of yourself as a golfer: You cant only focus on their long drive. You have to practice their chips and your putts for a complete game. Thats what youre going to do with this workout. (Need a miniband? Get it above.)

Both standard resistance bands and minibands differ from your traditional weight training in two key categories: accommodating resistance and line of pull.

Accommodating resistance is the principle of the movement becoming more difficult through the range of motion. Chains and bands are two very common forms of this foundational movement modality. Chains have a meathead rep, but really, theyre just metal accommodating resistance: With every inch higher the chain gets elevated from the ground, another link comes off the ground. This creates greater weight dangling as you move upward through a movement. Bands are much more approachable than chains -- and easier to use in the house, too.

The other key thing bands offer is an ability to mix up your line of pull. Pick up a dumbbell and do a biceps curl, and really, you can only curl it in one direction. But bands let you curl in multiple directions, changing angles and challenging different stabilizing muscles, everything from abs to obliques to rotator cuff muscles. You can adjust what direction you pull from making room for vertical, horizontal, pulling, and pushing motions.

The general goal of most miniband workouts is simple: Get yourself moving and keep the tissues active. Band work can help you harness your movement pattern quality, aid in joint health, and test muscles you may be missing in your standard routines. Theres a reason pro sports teams all have stashes of minibands. And if the pros take them seriously, you should, too. Try them in this workout.

<h1> The Key to Resistance Band Exercises </h1>

Youll do a variety of exercises you might consider standard in this workout, but the miniband will add challenge. The key is taking advantage of that challenge. Keep the miniband taut throughout this session, pulling it apart and tense. Your goal is to maintain good standard form on classic exercises: Apply tension to the band steadily and aggressively so that it looks as if youre not using a band at all. This applies to standard resistance band training, too: The variable resistance will change as you do, say, a biceps curl, but aim to keep lifting at the same rate.

Directions: Do this workout as a circuit. Do three rounds of the circuit, resting one minute between each. Youll be wrapped up with the entire session in about 15 minutes.

Wrap a miniband around your knees, just above your knees. Stand with feet slightly wider than shoulder width, core tight, knees pulling the miniband outwards. Bend at the knees and push your butt back, lowering your thighs until theyre about parallel with the ground; stand back up, continuing to pull the miniband tight. Thats 1 rep; do 15. Some basic squat tips, which apply to this squat variation, are below.

This Resistance Bands Workout Hits Every Muscle

Your average home workout loads up on plenty of bodyweight exercises, and for good reason: Pushups and squats are fundamental pieces of any fitness routine, and you need to hold mastery over them.

Challenge Your Whole Body With This At-Home Resistance Band Workout

But if you want big arms, thats not the only muscle group you need to grow. Yes, building full, thick biceps helps, but you also need to seriously develop your triceps, too. Why? Because your triceps are actually a larger muscle group, and they visually complement your biceps. A perfect, well-sculpted set of arms includes big, strong biceps, and well-defined triceps, too.

Triceps training isnt always the most natural, though, partly because you cant always see the muscle youre working. Part of the reason a lot of guys love training biceps is they can instantly see progress. You cant always see that with your tris, but thats where this program comes in.

The trick with triceps training is attacking the triceps from a variety of different angles so you can hit all three of its heads. Do this right, and youll craft well-rounded tris and in the process, youll build the truly massive, powerful arms youve always wanted.

Before we dive into your twice-a-week triceps workout, lets understand the muscle a bit more. The triceps is a three-headed muscle running mostly along the back of the arm. The three heads (the medial, long, and short head) attach to the olecranon process, better known as your elbow. They also all connect to the back of your upper arm bone (the humerus). The long head of the triceps is unique in that it connects to your shoulder blade.

The medial and lateral heads of the triceps are the outer and central piece of whats known as the horseshoe look of your triceps. The long head, meanwhile, connects to the scapula and to build it, youll need to do different motions. When you do a triceps pressdown, for example, youre mostly attacking the medial and lateral heads. Once your upper arm starts moving overhead (known as shoulder flexion), youre going to start attacking the long head.

A good set of tris can account for roughly two-thirds of the muscle mass in the upper armmore than the biceps. And really, your triceps are more involved in your day-to-day life than your biceps. From driving to typing to handling money to a cashier, you spend more time every day pushing your arm away from your body than you do pulling. All that pushing is part of the triceps responsibility.

Your triceps are a secondary mover in just about every upper body pushing movement because theyre responsible for straightening your arm at the elbow. That means they dont just get work when you do triceps-specific exercises with them. Theyll also get plenty of work when you bench press and shoulder press.

That also means training your triceps isnt just about packing on muscle. It could be the difference between a new bench press career-high and a missed max lift. Most of the time, in my experience, the triceps are the reason you cant progress past a certain weight on the bench. If you cant extend your elbows, youll have a hard time finishing an overhead press, chest press, or any other upper body press.

Constructing elite triceps requires taking a multi-angle approach, and it also means doing the right moves. Details matter with this too: You have to keep your elbows tight on all motions and work to really isolate your tris. Dont just use massive weights with sloppy form.

You can do this triceps workout up to two times a week. Rest two days between triceps workouts, but aim to train other bodyparts on those days, hammering legs one day and attacking your back on another day. You can train your triceps by themselves, or train them after chest. Go as heavy as you can with good form, but focus on form first and foremost.

If you train only triceps, make sure to warm up before doing this workout: Do at least one minute of jumping jacks, then do this rotator cuff warmup with resistance bands. Then dive into the action.

This is one of the more difficult triceps moves out there, because your triceps faces not only the dumbbell but also gravity. Youre also training multiple triceps responsibilities. You know the triceps straightens your arm; it also stabilizes the shoulder, and here it handles both tasks. Try the kickback variation below. Do 4 sets of 8-10 reps, resting 90 seconds between each.

Build Massive Triceps With This 4-Move Workout

If youre in the gym chasing big arms, theres a good chance youve spent plenty of time doing biceps curls. And hey, you cant be blamed. After all, when most people think of big arms, they definitely think big biceps.

And yes, its completely normal. The knee is one of the most frequently used joints in the body, in use whenever you get up out of a chair, squat down to pick up something from the floor, run, jump, or even take a mere step. And that means it can take a beating, especially as you get older.

When youre in your 20s, perhaps, you can get away with shaky movement mechanics, because your knees (and your whole body, really) recovery quickly, thanks to excellent blood supply to joints and a variety of other factors. But by the time youre 40, tendon and ligament blood supply are on the decline, and those knees just cant take the same pounding they once could.

Regardless of age, knee soreness and pain can (and very often does) pop up here and there. Sometimes, its a chronic issue, other times its sporadic. Either way, it can majorly limit your ability to get a good workout in. And if you try to train through knee issues, the results can be even worse, affecting other joints, too.

Your fix: Learn how to take care of the long-term health of your knees. Joint injuries in general are major deterrents to any kind of training. So beat your knee pain; dont let it beat you.

To understand how delicate the knee is, you need to understand how it works. It seems like an incredibly simple joint, since, in theory, you can only bend your knee in one direction. But it actually contains multiple support systems that allow it to move. Its a synovial joint, meaning it contains a capsule, cartilage, and fluid, which all allow your femur (the long bone in your thigh) and your tibia (the long bone in your lower leg) to move smoothly. Media and lateral meniscus also provide padding between the two bones for movement.

The patella sits in the front of the knee; most people know this as the kneecap. This aids in the mechanics of the knee, allowing easier extension of the muscles and protecting the joint in the front. Articular cartilage covers all your bones, allowing for smooth movements. Four major ligaments keep the joint stable: your anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments and the medial collateral and lateral collateral ligaments.

Every joint has their functions and limitations. The knee can primarily only hinge forward and back. While there is some side to side motion, that comes from obvious joint vulnerability, not ability. What we ask our body to do on a daily basis will never change. Due to this alternating chain of joints, if one isnt properly owning its responsibilities, it compromises the neighboring joints. This means you need mobility in your hips and ankles. If you dont have that, your knees are forced to do extra work.

<h1> The Best Ways To Do Leg Exercises </h1>

A lot that can go wrong with this joint. It's just a hinge, but it can shift different ways based on how we put pressure on it, affecting the stabilizing muscles that help make it a strong hinge. The way we jump, land, squat, and sit affects the long-term health of our knees. So too do other joints, such as our ankles and hips.

In general, in everything you do, think about keeping your knee stacked directly over your ankle. Land there, and aim to think about that when you squat and lunge too. It won't happen all the time (yes, it's OK for the knees to shift a bit forward when you do squats), but it will, over the long haul, benefit the health of your knees. These other tips will too.

Front, back, goblet, or bodyweight, all squats adjust the way we maintain balance while descending down and driving up. Leg day royalty! Growing up we learn to adjust our balance to mid foot to avoid leaning too far forward or too far back. When it comes to squats, sitting back through the heels allows the stress to be placed on the muscles vs the knee.

The squat is a collaborative effort between the knee joint and a series of muscles (your hamstrings, quads, calves, and other stuff). If your knee winds up too far forward, it takes the brunt of the motion, and your leg muscles cant be properly involved. So focus on sitting back when you squat. Need an assist in timing this? Use a box, and sit back onto the box.

Your Lunge Tip: Step over the puddle!

Lunges are great for forcing each leg to develop its own level of strength and neuromuscular control. But theres a catch: Each lunge variation is very different from the others. The direction in which you step and how you finish the step (whether its a walking lunge or a stationary lunge) heavily influences the muscles you involve in the movement.

Its also trickier than most people think to find just the right alignment for the move overall. How far and how high do you step?

The way I teach it: Tell clients to step over an imaginary puddle on the ground. This will force you to stride out far enough to get down to the ground properly. Doing that plays a key role in helping you land in the right position: With your front thigh parallel to the ground, your front shin perpendicular to the ground, and all your joints at near-90-degree angles.

Your Jumping Tip: Land soft and jump smart!

Caucasian man jumping on box in gymnasium

Most people dont hurt themselves jumping. They hurt themselves landing. Some of the most common knee injuries come from poor landing mechanics and leg strength. Thats why, in truth, you should be able to squat 1.5 times your bodyweight before you start doing box jumps.

One other key to the box jump: Do it responsibly. Jumping to max heights isnt going to be the route to success you think itll be when you start out. Skip it and work with lower boxes. And no matter what, focus on landing with a generous bend at your knees. Your muscles are meant to absorb stress so your joints dont have to bear that pressure. That cant happen without a soft landing.

The key to avoiding leg and knee issues is hammering home perfect mechanics. This may take an ego check, and it may have you doing moves you dont always want to do (like doing goblet squats instead of heavy barbell squats). Do these moves anyway, because, especially if you have knee pain, theyre likely what your body needs most.

Bridges and hip thrusts hammer home the point of driving your heels through the ground. Building glute strength becomes paramount when you are looking to use power, strength, and coordination to establish control in the lower body.

How to: Lying flat on your back, pull your feet back so your legs are at a 90 degree angle. From this bottom position, drive your heels into the ground extending the hips towards the sky. While pulling the hips through, you should keep a rigid posture so the focus of movement is at the hips. Fully extend the hips at the top and hold for a count of 2 seconds. Slowly return back to the bottom position. That is one rep.

These Training Tweaks Will Keep Your Knees Healthy

If youve been hitting the gym for years, whether its to do squats, play basketball, jump on boxes, or just run, theres a good chance that, at some point, youve experienced knee pain.

Strong delts are the secret to unlocking strength and power in all your other exercises, whether youre pushing, pulling, or carrying weight. And theyll frame out the physique youve been aiming for, too. But shoulders are also a tricky joint that requires extra-special attention. The shoulder is a multifaceted junction where power and vulnerability live close to each other. You can make big strides or big mistakes in shoulder training, simply by altering your exercises by a few inches.

Your key to shoulder training is finding that perfect balance between pushing yourself and staying healthy. Remember, your best talent in the gym is your ability to go to the gym. That means finding a safe approach to challenging one of the most critical muscle groups in the body.

To look at the shoulder, we have to start with something called the glenohumeral joint. This is the centration of the head of the upper arm bone (also known as the humerus), which sits in something called the glenoid fossa.

Your shoulder is a traditional ball and socket joint, meaning it can move in multiple planes of motion. In this way, its much like your hip joint, except your shoulder has a greater overall range of motion. Thats because the socket, in this case, is shallow. As a result, many other muscles, everything from your pectorals to your lats to your abs, can influence the long-term health of your shoulders. You need to always keep that in mind when training your shoulders, and when considering the long-term health of your shoulders.

The key muscle group attached to the shoulders is the deltoid, and thats what you normally see on a person with jacked shoulders. The deltoid has three heads, the anterior head, medial head and posterior head. These three regions pull the shoulder in various directions. Your anterior fibers flex the upper arm forward and rotate it toward your body, while the posterior fibers extend it behind you and rotate it away from your body. That means just small turns of the hand alter the primary muscles you use on any movement.

Then theres the rotator cuff. With so many muscles tugging on your shoulder in such a shallow socket, its up to a collection of tendons, ligaments and smaller muscles to provide stability and keep the joint centered. Thats the job of the rotator cuff, a collection of four muscles that work together to keep the head of the humerus safely in the pocket of the glenoid fossa.

Timing is everything when it comes to shoulder movement. You need certain areas of your body to move at the right times to allow for smooth shoulder movement. In particular, the scapula (your shoulder blade) and the humerus (upper arm bone) must work together for long-term shoulder health.

As the humerus flexes, the scapula must protract forward. As the humerus extends, the scapula must retract. Thats where we find some exercises can ruin our shoulders. If the scapula cant move freely during a motion, but the humerus has to move for the exercise to be done, were inviting injury.

The fragility of the shoulder joint means we need to be cautious of several exercises in our training. In some cases, we should look for alternative moves entirely. In others, we just need to be cautious of frequency and form. Watch out for these moves.

This is my favorite exercise, but if done improperly, its an awful move for shoulder health. If youre pressing from a high, flared-elbow angle, the magnitude of force on the tendons and joint is tough on the shoulder. Thats why its critical to always focus on keeping the arms at a 45-degree angle relative to your torso. Additionally, be cautious of your shoulder blades. Especially when benching heavy, the weight can limit your shoulder blades ability to retract. That can hurt your shoulders over time.

This is widely considered one of the best moves for deltoid development, but its a move thats not typically worth the risk. Your shoulder slips into whats called internal rotation, and as the upper arm elevates, that causes stress on the rotator cuff and supporting ligaments. If you do this, limit your range of motion and dont pull all the way to your chin.

Behind-the-neck shoulder presses and lat pulldowns are popular from old-school bodybuiding, but theyre not worth the trouble. They place the shoulder in a high five (where your elbow is at a 90-degree angle and your upper arm is parallel to the ground, and thats a position we know promotes joint laxity. We want tighter shoulder joints, not looser ones.

Building battle-tested shoulders starts with enhancing the posterior deltoids. Face pulls are a great way to hammer home proper patterns while developing strength in the stabilizing muscles of the shoulder. This isnt a heavy-weight movement, so dont try to grunt and move the entire stack of weight, or the heaviest band in the gym. Focus on working with higher reps and building proper muscular awareness. How to: Grip the rope or resistance band with hands directly in front and palms facing the ground. In a controlled motion, pull the rope or band back towards your chin while pulling your hands away from one another. Hold the contracted position for a single second count. Slowly return the rope/band back to the starting position. That is one rep. Do 3 sets of 12 to 15 reps. Arnold Press This bodybuilding classic is a great way to work through overhead pressing in the presence of rotation at the arm. It's unlikely to expect completely linear motion with no change in direction through our everyday movements. This move hits the full spectrum of your delts. The key on this, though: Dont turn your palms fully forward at the top. Remember that 45-degree angle as you press. How to: From the seated position, hold one dumbbell in each hand with your palms facing in towards your body. As you press the weight upwards, rotate the hands 180 until the palms are at a 45-degree angle with your torso. Your elbows should be straight now. From the top position, rotate the weight and control is back down to the starting position. That is one rep. Do 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps. Neutral-Grip Cable Press We tend to neglect neutral grip when we press overhead. I will see lots of lifters using the close grip attachment in the weightroom for lat pulldowns but never pressing upwards in the opposite direction that way. The neutral grip allows the shoulder joint to stay in neutral position thatll limit muscular stress on the joints ligaments and tendons. How to: From the tall kneeling position, hold the cable at the top of your chest with your palms facing each other, core tight. Drive the cable just in front of the face and overhead. Once at the fully extended position, control the weight back down to the starting position at the top of the chest. That is one rep. Do 3 sets of 12 to 15 reps. Farmers Carry One of the best moves for shoulder health out there, you need farmers carries not just for strength but shoulder stability. Theyre going to help you train proper body positioning, and theyll challenge your shoulders as you manage a large overall weight. How to: Hold one weight in each hand and stand with a tall posture. Walk forward in a controlled motion maintaining the weights at your side in a stable position. Move with as natural a walking pattern as possible. Control the tall posture for the duration of the set. Do 3 30-second sets, using a heavy weight.

The Best Way To Build Shoulder Size and Strength

If you really want to pop out of your T-shirts and stand out on the beach this summer, you need more than arm workouts and chest training. You need to spend some time working your shoulders, because, truth be told, thats where upper body strength really starts.

Except newsflash: It doesnt need to be done only with a barbell. For most average guys and plenty of short guys, barbell deadlifting is natural. But if youre just struggling with deadlifting form in general, frequently lifting your butt up too early in the movement, there is another option.

That option is the hex bar, and its one of the most underrated tools in the gym. This hexagon-shaped piece of metal just may be what you need to fix your deadlift. Its been around for nearly 30 years, but over the last decade or so, its finally started growing in popularity.

Thats as it should be. Because if youre having trouble with deadlifts, the hex bar is the tool you need. Itll instantly put your body in position to execute cleaner deadlift mechanics. And if your goal is strength and muscle and youre not prepping for a powerlifting competition, then deadlifting with proper form is going to serve you in the long run more than deadlifting with the barbell. That, of course, is exactly why Im going to walk you through everything that makes the hex bar great for deadlifts (and a few other lifts too).

<h1> Hex Bars Offer Similar Load Distribution </h1>

As I said (and as you may know from your gym), the barbell deadlift is a holy grail exercise. People are protective of that traditional barbell and oftentimes resistant to changing over to the hex bar.

But look at it from the outside, and this doesnt make any sense. While hex bars come in many shapes and sizes, in general, theyre the same weight as traditional barbells, they set you up to lift from the same height, and they let you grip them with both hands. Theyre just shaped very differently from barbells. But they still have us doing a lift thats hip dominant (focused on our hips, glutes, and hamstrings. They check very similar boxes to the standard barbell deadlift.

At the same time, the hex bar is often more joint-friendly, and it also lets us really capture our full-body power, since were not fighting center of mass issues. What center of mass issues? Thats up next.

<h1> Center of Mass and Why It Matters </h1>

The deadlift is a heavily hip-dominant pattern when done right. The barbell weight is slightly in front of the body, and you have to extend the hips first to pull the weight off the ground, challenging your glutes, hamstrings, and, often, your lower back. The torque of the barbell deadlift results in high stress on the joint systems supporting the movement, especially the lower back.

This varies from person to person, based on such things as limb length and the weight youre moving. But whats true is that the hip extension pattern, which is one thing were really working to attack on a deadlift from a training standpoint, is altered because the weight is in front of you and is always, at least a little bit, pulling you forward. From Crossfitters to powerlifters to bodybuilders to athletes in general, the very best gym-goers learn to combat that, and that process has its strengths. Battling the barbell deadlift teaches you to activate your lat muscles to keep the bar close to you, and forces you to engage your hamstrings at the start of a deadlift rep.

But not everyone can do this, or should need to focus on it, and thats where the hex bar changes things up. The hex bar however keeps the weight directly with your center of mass because it lets you step into it. Those few inches matter. Now, the mechanics do not have to accommodate weight being leveraged at an angle away from the body.

Your spinal position will instantly improve. Gravity is now pushing the weight directly down to the floor. Now, you have less to think about when you deadlift. Instead of thinking about how youll keep the bar close to your body, you get to think almost solely about standing up and squeezing your glutes (although youll want to think about squeezing your lats too). Its a smoother movement overall from a joint mechanical perspective.

Why do you deadlift? The answer: To attack your glutes and hamstrings. Those are the critical muscles youre trying to hit, and you hit them by standing up with a barbell or dumbbells. The key thing on a deadlift is to make sure that when you begin the stand-up process, youre hips are lower than your shoulders (or, in the case of very tall people, at the same height as your shoulders).

This insures that the physics of the move are correct, and that the prime lever point in the deadlift is at the hips. If your hips wind up higher than your shoulders, then the point of leverage often winds up in the lower back. Your lower back isnt meant to deal with such strain, especially if youre lifting heavy. But when youre operating with a barbell, if you dont lock your lats, it often becomes easier to move the prime point of leverage so its directly over the bar. If your technique isnt perfect, you wind up using your lower back, and taking focus off your glutes and hamstrings.

This is a less frequent problem with the hex bar, and cleaner technique, especially when its done with heavy weight, is going to lead to stronger glutes and hamstrings. You lose nothing with the hex bar, yet you gain control.

Most people will discount the hex bar because of the high handle option. What is this? Most hex bars offer two handle positions, one thats a traditional barbell height and one thats a few inches higher. Using these higher handles allows for a few extra inches of freedom, meaning that, technically, you get to start the lift from a slightly higher position. That means more freedom to start the lift with your hips and knees and minimize lower-back stress.

It also means youre moving the weight over less distance overall, which is the knock on the high handles. But dont let that scare you. One 2017 study analyzed the high handle hex bar deadlift and compared it to the traditional barbell deadlift. That research found that there was higher peak force, peak velocity, and peak power with the high handle hex bar deadlift than with the traditional deadlift.

So sure, youre technically moving the weight over a little less distance. But when youre moving the weight, youre doing so more explosively, perhaps because your bodys in a better position to do so. From a performance and mechanics standpoint, the high handle looks like the best option.

Oh, and you dont have to use the high handles to get benefit from the hex bar either. A 2011 study found that people lifted more weight from the low handle hex bar than they did from a traditional barbell deadlift.

(Whats more important than the height of the handles is the weight youre using. Always use Olympic-sized weights, so youre always lifting from the same height. Throwing a pair of 5-pound plates onto the hex bar changes the movement pattern to set you up from lifting lower, but your body may not be comfortable doing that.

Youd be surprised what a small turn of the hands can do. The hex bar lets you grab it with a neutral grip, your palms facing your torso. Traditional barbell deadlifts force you into either an overhand grip, or a mixed grip (one hand overhand, one hand underhand). The latter grip produces slight twisting force on the torso. The former can be challenging to hold at higher weights and has its own issues. Both those barbell grips have unintended effects on the humerus, your upper arm bone.

The neutral grip allows a more comfortable braced position through the scapulohumeral region (your upper arm and shoulder area), and this very quietly reduces some stress on your mid and upper back. You dont need to brace quite as hard with your body (even though youll still get plenty of work here).

The body is one long, interconnected chain of muscles, joints, tendons, and ligaments. Any added stress to one area translates stress to neighboring regions. This can affect the weight we lift and the way we lift.

That grip translates best to everyday life. Watch how you carry your suitcase. Whenever possible, we very naturally lift and carry items at our sides. This is a small detail, but it helps to get to use this small detail in our lifts. Were rarely carrying things at our shins, as we do in the barbell deadlift.

Doubling down on grip and weight position, we always lift and carry items from our sides. It may seem like a small detail but lifting, carrying, pressing in the patterns we will use can immediately make an impact in our everyday lives. When we pick up luggage, groceries, or your gym bag from the ground, it's usually at your sides and rarely from the front of your shins. Hammer home the mechanics we will see the most in our everyday lives.

<h1> Executing the Hex Bar Deadlift </h1>

<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bw-l7m0gc_z/" id="c0e3bf5e-5cd6-3f11-ad74-08d52f214f06"> View this post on Instagram </a> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bw-l7m0gc_z/" id="1b7d12e8-2a09-357a-a018-dd0123de0387"> A post shared by David Otey, CSCS PN1 (@davidscottpt) </a> on May 2, 2019 at 4:09pm PDT

The hex bar deadlift is simple to do. Your game plan: Load the bar with the desired weight, then step inside of it, aiming to line your shins up with the weights. Grab the hex bar handles, whether high or low in their center. Brace your core, and think about sitting down slightly to engage your hamstrings. Try to turn your elbow pits forward to turn on your lats. Squeeze the handles.

Now, stand up, focusing on lifting with your legs. Squeeze your glutes at the top (dont overarch your back). Lower the hex bar to the ground with control. Thats 1 rep. Not sure where to start? Aim to do 3 sets of 8 to 10 to get a feel for it. As you get comfortable, you can drop the reps and focus more intensely on power; think 3 sets of 3 to 5 reps.

<h1> The Versatility of the Hex Bar </h1>

The hex bar isnt just an option for deadlifting. It also translates well to pushing, pulling, and loaded carry options, with those neutral-grip handles aiding each lift. Experiment with these hex-bar exercises in your workouts.

<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/ByFtzWBgPjT/" id="462ff956-75d4-3266-a9c3-7c4849b9d085"> View this post on Instagram </a> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/ByFtzWBgPjT/" id="9b17620e-f7b1-355f-aedb-b8b1ce817457"> A post shared by David Otey, CSCS PN1 (@davidscottpt) </a> on May 30, 2019 at 7:02am PDT

From a pulling perspective, the width of the hex bar is ideal for most lifters. We tend to get stuck in a rut of doing neutral grip pulls from a more narrow grip because of the common attachments by the cable machines. The wider grip will mirror the standard pressing width so you stay in a more advantageous glenohumeral position and really test the lats and back muscles to the max. This will mirror the position you might take with a dumbbell row to some extent, although you get to attack the load with both arms instead of one. Think 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps. And if you want some dumbbell row wisdom, check out the video below.

<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BzOwed4gVsk/" id="b18f2333-ba67-315b-a658-33b8ccba9298"> View this post on Instagram </a> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BzOwed4gVsk/" id="e19300eb-3ab9-33a6-a4ad-921a0941d82f"> A post shared by David Otey, CSCS PN1 (@davidscottpt) </a> on Jun 27, 2019 at 3:58pm PDT

This ones fun. Youve likely done dumbbell floor presses before to work on bench pressing technique. Floor pressing with the neutral group of the hex bar is overlooked but very useful. The fact youre using a neutral grip and the elbows wind up closer to the body creates a nice safe shoulder position. Think 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps.

Loaded carries are a great option in any strength and conditioning piece. Theyre often done with dumbbells or kettlebells. The hex bar allows you to hold one unified piece, and that eventually means you can pack more weight onto the bar for serious loaded carries. Aim to walk 10 to 20 meters for 3 sets.

Struggling With Deadlift Form? Try The Hex Bar.

The deadlift is one of the gold standard lifts in the gym. Its pretty simple, really: You load a barbell up with weight, grab it with a shoulder-width grip, plant your feet on the floor and lift.

Struggling With Your Deadlift? Let the Hex Bar Help.

Its called the leg extension machine, and depending on who you ask, its either an exercise that you should avoid altogether, or its a fundamental move you should do in every leg workout. The machines in just about every corner of fitness you can think of, from high school weight rooms to physical therapy clinics to big-box gyms - and very often, it has a line of people waiting to use it, too.

And why not, right? After all the movement is simple enough. You sit in the seat, let your calves loop around the leg roller, and straighten your knees, flexing your quads. It burns when you do it, and the burn is always good, right?

Well, sort of. Truth be told, the leg extension has a purpose, but that purpose isnt for everyone. Depending on your goals, youll want to hammer the leg extension a few times a week, or sit it out entirely. Lets break down the how and why.

The leg extension is an exercise designed to focus almost exclusively on your quads. Plenty of guys want big quads, which is why this machine gets major traffic. And your quadriceps, a blend of four muscles (rectus femoris, vastus lateralis, vastus intermedius, and vastus medialis) are responsible for leg extension, the straightening of the knee. The vastus muscles originate at the femur, where the rectus femoris is attached at the hip; the rectus femoris is also responsible for hip extension.

The leg extension offers an exercise that relies on torque to move a weight. While the quads are extending the knee, the weight is resting just on top of the ankle joint. In the same way that a lighter weight will crush your deltoids during a lateral raise because of how far the weight is from the muscle thats moving it, the placement of the load, near your ankles, pushes your quads, which are straightening the knee, to work.

Unlike most of the leg exercises on today's fitness landscape, the leg extension isn't considered "functional." Instead, it's an isolation move that has its roots well before CrossFit, and these days, it's often criticized.

If youve ever been to CrossFit, you wont see anyone in the room doing leg extensions. You wont see them in HIIT classes either, and disciplines of functional fitness often malign the exercise.

Instead, this move has its roots in bodybuilding. Bodybuilders have been adding leg extensions into their workouts since Arnold Schwarznenegger was training on Venice Beach. I also bought into the exercise when I started out in the gym. I mean, if Arnold does it, I should too!

Bodybuilders, however, have a specific purpose for doing the exercise. First off, theyre training purely for aesthetics, not performance, and a well-rounded set of quads is critical to a good physique. And earning size on a specific muscle (as opposed to your entire body) often requires you to focus on chasing the pump. (Not familiar with the pump? Heres your .)

The pump has its purpose. Theres some scientific truth to the influx of blood going to an area, and the hormonal response that follow building muscle. Most bodybuilding routines are rooted in pushing specific muscles to failure to do that, and the leg extension, which isolates the quads, forcing them to work with little assistance from other muscles, is a perfect example of that.

How often in your day do you have to extend your knee with maximum strength under load? Oh, never? That figures, which is why the leg extension is also popular and useful in physical therapy clinics. If youve ever had knee surgery (I have), you know that the quadriceps and rectus femoris often fall asleep in the days after surgery, and they need to essentially be retrained.

If other muscles can do the work, then the quads and rectus cant experience that retraining. So the leg extension machine, because it isolates the quads and eliminates other muscles involvement, plays a critical role in rehab. The concept of getting the quads moving and the knee joint back to its hinging motion makes sense.

This makes it a good starting point for any rehab, although you can only take that so far. In the long run, your quads arent a muscle meant to work in isolation. So you can use the leg extension to wake up your quads after a surgery or traumatic injury, but at some point, it needs to learn to fire collaboratively with other muscles.

Strong young man doing legs exercise in the gym

The leg extension just might be a fit in your workout; it all depends on your goals. If you are looking to really dial in to building a set of legs to impress the world, your will want to use the leg extension. If you have other goals, however, you may not want this exercise.

You Want Massive Quads

Then you want to do leg extensions. Again, youre blasting your quads in isolation, and theyre going to flush with blood. And if you just want pure size in your quads, there is a benefit to getting a pump.

But that doesnt mean you just need to do leg extensions. If youre smart and you want big quads, youll utilize that pump more creatively. Start with leg extensions, then tap into moves that more closely mirror the everyday actions of your knee. Try this superset, which I love: Do 20 leg extensions, followed by 10 walking lunges with each leg. Do 4 sets. You Need More Muscular Awareness

One key to building your physique: Taking the muscle through concentric and eccentric contractions. One major benefit to the leg extension is that you can control the movement and focus on your quad. That means you can move with intent, slowing down the contraction at your pace and slowing it at certain phases. That can be done with squats and lunges, but its not quite as natural, or as easy to focus on your quads.

You Want to Avoid Joint Stress

Especially if you already have sore knees, you may want to skip this exercise. Again, the placement of the load relative to your knee creates a lot of torque, so this move sometimes isnt worth it, especially if youre not prepping for a bodybuilding competition.

Athleticism Is Your Goal

If youre trying to run, jump, or play sports better, this isnt a move for you. Most real-life leg actions dont solely involve knee extension; even kicking a soccer ball, for example, starts with an aggressive drive of the hip, not the knee. If youre training for a sport, ditch leg extensions in favor of moves like squats, deadlifts, lunges, and step-ups.

Muscular man doing legs workout in fitness club

If you decided to do leg extensions, be careful with how you use and execute the exercise. Avoid these errors.

The leg extension as an exercise relies on the torque involved in moving the weight, so you dont need to load the machine up to the max to get benefit. While the quads are extending the knee the weight is resting just on top of the ankle joint.

So you can benefit from not using too much weight. And maxing out the machine can have serious issues. In general, the further a weight is from the operating joint, the more the muscle and the joint have to deal with the torque. That means you will feel leg extensions in the muscle, but, if you use too much weight, youll also stress your knee joint over time. Be careful with throwing weight around; you want to protect that knee joint.

Leg extensions solely develop your quads, so in the long term, if theyre the main focus of your leg workouts, your legs will gradually develop imbalances. As your quads get stronger, you need to make sure to strengthen your hamstrings, too; if you dont, you could easily develop knee issues or place yourself at risk for knee injuries when playing sports.

If you do leg extensions, offset them with hamstring exercises such as Romanian deadlifts and even leg curls, too; aim to do 2 sets of leg curls or Romanian deadlifts for every 1 set of leg extensions that you do.

Remember how your legs work! Hamstrings, glutes, and quads are meant to work in concert, as are ankle, knee, and hip joints. Even bodybuilders who are chasing massive quads work in other exercises, using squats, deadlifts, and lunges as the backbone of their workouts. That doesnt change even if youre doing leg extensions. Keep the fundamental leg exercises in your workouts! (And if you're not sure how to go about the squat, check out the video below.)

If youve ever been in a big-box gym before, youve seen plenty of guys doing classic leg exercises like squats and lunges and deadlifts. But theres a good chance youve also seen a host of leg-training machines, one of which seems simple enough.

Your Definitive Guide to Leg Extensions

It happens to the best of us. You can easily go into the gym and crush a leg workout filled with squats and lunges, ending the session with your thighs on fire. But that doesnt necessarily mean you smoked your hamstrings, the bands of muscle on the backs of your thighs.

Theyre easy to forget, in much the same way that its easy to forget the importance of back training. You see your so-called mirror muscles like your quads, abs, and chest whenever you see your reflection. Its simply not the same for back muscles, hamstrings and glutes.

But your hamstrings are a key muscle that you want to train. Theyre one of the largest muscle groups in the body and can dictate a large amount of how successful you are with all your lower-body exercises and with metabolic flexibility, too. (Translation: Training your hamstrings will make you better at your classic squat exercises, and put you in position to burn through more calories, too.) Having a little extra hamstring meat can also make you a faster runner, and itll finish out the look of your legs in a pair of shorts or swim trunks, too.

Thats why its so important to do a little targeted hamstring training.

Your hamstrings actually consist of three main muscles: the semimembranosus, the semitendinosus, and the biceps femoris. The biceps femoris includes two separate heads, a long head and a short head.

Both semis and the long head of the biceps femoris originate at the ischial tuberosity in the pelvis -- and thats important. That means they are involved in hip extension. Whats hip extension? Thats what happens when you stand up straight, and your thigh and torso straighten out. (The short head of the biceps femoris originates at the shaft of the femur, or thigh bone.)

This means that hip extension moves like glute bridges, and even the final act of standing up fully straight and pushing your pelvis forward during a squat, will recruit a lot of hamstring muscle (although these moves wont recruit the short head of the biceps femoris). Dont discount such moves when training hamstrings.

Meanwhile, all your hamstring muscles are active during knee flexion, the bending of your knee. Semimembranosus and semitendinosus insert at the tibia, while the biceps femoris insert at the head of the fibula. That placement means your lower leg internally rotates because of the semis, while it externally rotates because of the biceps femoris. This means you can create focus on different muscles by thinking about tibial rotation.

<h1> Your Hamstrings Opposing Muscle Group </h1>

The hamstrings are commonly known as the opposing muscle group to the quadriceps, but that doesnt mean that when one of these muscles is working, the other group is relaxed. Hamstrings and quads work together; in order to stand, you must exhibit both hip extension (which includes plenty of quad contraction, with a little hamstrings action), and knee extension, which is hamstring-heavy.

Man doing exercise with kettle bell in gym

This collaborative effort happens more often than you would think with all lower-body exercises. That means you can isolate your hamstrings, but its not the lone way to train them; when youre doing squats and lunges, your hammies are getting plenty of work, too.

<h1> Your Hamstring Exercise Library </h1>

If you want to develop your hamstrings into the powerhouses their supposed to be, you need to use a variety of exercises. Here are 12 moves you can mix into your leg day training.

The venerable cardio row does more than get your heart rate up; itll fire up your glutes and hamstrings, too. In fact, if you row with explosive power, theres a good chance youll get off the rower with your hamstrings and glutes on fire. The movement of the cardio row, when done correctly, somewhat mimics a deadlift and barbell row, with both moves simply on a different plane.

How to: Set up on a cardio rower, and secure your feet. Bend at the knees and hips and hinge your torso forward slightly to grasp the handle. Holding it tightly with an overhand grip, straighten your knees and hips, hinge backward slightly, and pull the handle to your lower chest. Repeat the motion until youve covered the time or distance you want. A good starting point: Do 3 two-minute intervals of rowing, resting two minutes between each set.

Theres leg training. And then theres hamstring training. And your hamstrings are often forgotten.

The 12 Essential Moves to Build Hamstring Muscle

But every so often, you stumble onto a training tool that lets you do both things at the same time. And the weight sled is one of those special tools (which is partly why its becoming increasingly common in todays gyms).

Also known as a prowler, the sled is a pretty simple tool. Its a large sled that you can easily load with weight, and its meant to slide across turf (another thing Im seeing more often in gyms). There are several versions of the sled. Perhaps the most common one youll see includes two posts for handles (which can also be loaded with weight).

<a href=&quot;https://www.menshealth.com/about/g26028263/mh-advisory-board/&quot; data-vars-ga-outbound-link=&quot;https://www.menshealth.com/about/g26028263/mh-advisory-board/&quot;>Click here</a> to learn more about the Mens Health expert advisory board.

However the sled is structured, your use for it is generally relatively simple: You pull or push it from one point to another. Its a simple enough act, right? But done correctly and for long enough, itll challenge a boatload of muscles, making you stronger and doing much, much more than that, too.

The most basic sled push engages a host of muscles. To do a basic sled push, you face the sled, and grasp its handles. Then lean forward slightly. Maintain tension in your back muscles as you do this, and aim to maintain a neutral spine. You dont want to round your back, but you also dont want to overarch it, either.

From there, you drive the sled forward, either with arms extended or arms bent (more on that later. Either way, to push the sled forward, youll have to really drive with your hamstrings and glutes. Meanwhile, your core will be working overtime, too. Your core will be responsible for transferring all that power from your hamstrings and glutes (and your calves too!) through your torso and into your arms and into the sled. That means your abs, spinal extensors, and obliques will have to put in serious work.

<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Btd6GP9lwAR/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_medium=loading" id="f3767ff9-fa57-392d-aa6b-b62f4b536e71"> View this post on Instagram </a> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Btd6GP9lwAR/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_medium=loading" id="7ce367ff-bc49-384b-afea-b7a89f556735"> A post shared by David Otey, CSCS PN1 (@davidscottpt) </a> on Feb 4, 2019 at 8:59am PST

Your upper back muscles will also engage, too, working to keep your upper back straight. Thats lat, trap and rhomboid work. And if youre doing this with straight arms, you may feel your triceps and deltoid muscles turning on, too.

Thats a lot of bang for buck out of one training tool. And thats why its worth giving sled training a try.

Varying your arm position when doing basic sled pushes can make it an even more versatile training tool, but theres a way to do that. When you first begin doing sled pushes, keep your arms close to your body, letting your elbows bend. That will help build resilient spinal integrity and hone your posture.

Over the course of several weeks, you can straighten your arms, extending them forward and away from your torso. This is a more vulnerable body position, though, so do it with care. Youll hit your shoulders and upper torso stabilizing muscles more, and youll fire up your core more too. Just like a bridge, the longer the distance between fixed points, the more the middle has to work. Holding a weight with arms extended will amplify your spinal erectors, scapular involvement, and anterior core.

<h1> Sleds Offer Training Versatility </h1>

The sled is a way to load locomotive and running mechanics in front of the body rather than on top of the body. This is a major advantage to the sled that trainers commonly overlook. Exercises like military presses, or explosive moves like power cleans and snatches load you from overhead, placing the compressive forces of gravity and whatever weight youre lifting on your muscles, bone structure (and, most detrimentally sometimes, your spine).

That doesnt happen with the sled; the load never weights you down. This allows for a ton of training variability. You can aim to do power bursts, tapping into EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption), which can help you burn fat and calories. You can also do high-intensity steady-state work for conditioning, training your heart and lungs. Or you can do lower-body strength moves.

Whether hypertrophy, fat loss, conditioning, or functionality, the sled can fit into your program. As mentioned earlier, this thing can move. You dont need a rack, turf strip, or a performance facility. You just need some weight to load on and some space to move it.

<h1> Cant Train Legs? You Can Do This </h1>

One of the most common issues we run into with some traditional leg exercises like squats is that spinal compression I mentioned earlier. When weight is loaded at the shoulders of above, the compressive forces translate through the discs in the spine, which can amplify back issues that may already be there. The sled is a strong quadriceps-builder that minimizes those compressive forces, leading to very little stress on the spine.

Knee flexion is always a consideration, too, with leg exercises, especially if you arent going to full depth on a squat, either because you havent had enough training or because youre dealing with some pain. The sled, however, might be a better option for you, letting you train with the heavy weights you want to use when squatting more easily, since the weight isnt piled on your vertically.

From a mental perspective, that can be a daunting task to place a challenge on the body and affirm yourself that you can do it. The sled eliminates that fear factor strictly by design.

The basic sled push hits your whole body, but you can do far more with the sled than that, too. Attach a rope to the sled, and it becomes a valuable upper-body training tool, especially for hitting your back muscles. You can also pull it from plank position, as in this workout, shredding your core and building back strength.

There are plenty of other options for using the sled to train upper-body, too.

One unique thing about sled training for your upper body is how it changes the contractions. Free weights and most weight machines force your muscles to deliver two kinds of contractions, the concentric, which occurs when your muscles flexes and lifts the weight up, and the eccentric, which happens as you lower a weight to the ground. Thanks to the absence of gravity, the sled has you generally training only concentric contractions; this can make each rep easier, but let you pile up more reps.

<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bfi3udQnBuV/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_medium=loading" id="319b3c84-652a-322c-a37f-620489366b05"> View this post on Instagram </a> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bfi3udQnBuV/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_medium=loading" id="58e7e206-9529-3de8-a656-d77380b0b97d"> This one is, um, tough sledding? Did not feel like weights yesterday so worked a pull session with alternative equipment. For each move, pull the sled to you, push the sled back, rest 90 seconds, then go again. Be flexible with the resistance too, because it will vary based on where youre using the sled and the length of the battle rope. 1) plank single-arm pull: this one is brutal on your lats and your core. Your plank form WILL break but thats OK. Do your best to maintain it. Hit 3 sets per arm, and youre best off alternating arms. Thisll jack up your heart rate nicely. 2) prone two-arm sled pull: you can go heavier on this one. Youre getting a ton of lat activation on each pull, plus some tricep work when you finish each pull. 3) half-kneeling two-arm row: key here is to find a good half kneeling stance. Think of this as two moves per pull, not one: a hip hinge to pick up the rope and start, then lock in that strong, safe torso position, then finish with a really powerful row pull. Hit 6 sets on this since youve halved the distance and you want both knees to get a chance in that forward position. 4) lying biceps curl pull: for guns. Keep your upper arms glued to the floor the whole time. Do 4-6 sets of this, then hit 4 sets of cable squat curls to finish things out. Then go home. #fitness #training #backday #sledsplusbattleropes #battleropes #biceps </a> A post shared by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/ebenezersamuel23/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_medium=loading" id="0f0b494c-ea10-3a66-ad15-1091ef4891b2"> Eb Samuel </a> (@ebenezersamuel23) on Feb 23, 2018 at 8:04am PST

Ready to hit the sled? Try these three workouts.

Building strength with the sled can be a great way to add some variety to your stale leg routine. Begin with basic sled pushes, pushing the sled 20 meters each time. Do four sets, and use a weight equal to your one-rep squat max weight. Rest 2 minutes between each set.

How to: Leaning forward at a 45-degree angle you will grip the sled with your hands close to your chest (similar to a push-up position). From a staggered stance, drive through the balls of your feet with all toes in contact with the ground. Take large steps forward with each step.

The TRX power row is another great way to use the sled and test your full-body power potential, too. You will be explosively extending the knees and hips while driving the elbows back into a fluid motion to pull the weight with as much force as possible. This is a great option to test your back while minimizing low back stress.

Pull the sled 20 meters at a time. Do 4 sets, resting 2 minutes between each.

How to: With the TRX connected to the sled, sit back into a squat position with a tall posture and arms fully extended in front. You should have full tension of the TRX when sitting back into the squat. In one fluid move, explode up and back, extending the hips and knees while pulling the sled directly towards your torso. Once completed, step backwards until the TRX again has tension, then repeat.

Building strength with the sled can be a great way to add some variety to your stale leg routine. Instead of pulling 20 meters, youll pull the sled 50 meters in this workout. (Dont have room? Just pull the sled 20 meters two-and-a-half times.) Use fifty percent of your squat weight one-rep max. Moving this much weight at a consistent pace will challenge your muscular endurance and the bodies ability to clearout some of the byproducts of muscular demand such as lactic acid.

How to: Leaning forward at a 45-degree angle you will grip the sled with your hands close to your chest (similar to a push up position). From a staggered stance, drive through the balls of your feet with all toes in contact with the ground. Try to make each step large.

Why You Need To Start Doing Sled Training

If you want to build strength and muscle in the gym, you generally need to do one kind of training and use one particular tool, like a barbell or dumbbell or kettlebell. If you think about boosting your metabolism, you generally use a very different tool, like a treadmill or a rower.

Pack on Muscle and Burn Fat With Sled Training

Why? Because you just did a tougher workout than you expected. You accidentally did an exercise called a loaded carry, and quickly learned that simply walking with a large load can sometimes be a worthy challenge that can build muscle, burn fat, and make you stronger.

Yet somehow, in the gym, the loaded carry is one of the most underutilized workout moves there is. It doesnt have to be that way for you, though. Learning how and when to use loaded carries can easily transform your workout regimen, and help you finally get the training results you want.

Loaded carries are a very general term for a vast group of moves. The moves are all pretty simple: You are holding an external load and moving it from one point to another. This sounds primitive in the grand scheme of fitness: Youre picking something heavy up, moving it somewhere, then putting it down. And in truth, it is simple, but the benefits are staggering.

Strong man is doing cross training exercise

Youre tapping a host of muscles. Start with the shoulders, where the rotator cuff is called into action to complete its primary responsibility, stabilizing your shoulder joint. Heavy weights are pulling your shoulders down, so the rotator cuff needs to kick in to insure the heavy weight doesnt pull your arm out of its natural placement. Your scapula is also naturally depressed down, adding some eccentric pull to your upper traps while forcing your lower traps into action, too.

And your core muscles are on fire. Moving with weight wakes up a host of core muscles (transverse abdominis, rectus abdominis, internal/external obliques) to stabilize your midsection, ultimately avoiding any unwanted turning, torque, or bending. (There are, of course, many ways to train your core muscles. To master one classic version, the plank, check out this training video.)

Youve been there before. You pick up a bag of groceries and figure you can walk them from your car to your house pretty easily. Thing is, when you put the groceries down in your house, youre tired.

David Otey, C.S.C.S.

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